Meet a New Friend of Mine...

I know that I've been a little lazy about posting about the Christmas holiday. And with the time that has elapsed between then and now, it seems a little silly to recount everything all over again. Let me give you the Cliff Notes version before I get to the point of this entry...

I got a lot of rest over the holiday. (I took naps nearly every day.)

Maggie got some quality time with my mom and stepdad and they dealt with the intrusion like troopers. (Another benefit from that is that Maggie will very soon get real medical help for a small, but bothersome condition that needs taking care of.)

I inherited my stepdads ipod when he got a new one from my mom. So, that's nice. I appreciate the 16 extra gigs of memory and have recently fallen in love with podcasts. (Something I never had the memory to explore.) An added bonus was that I was able to pass my old mini off to a good friend, who will, I am sure, get a lot of good use out of it. I know it will be well-loved.

I saw loads of family and friends. And this was, for the first time, a solidly good trip home that I wasn't pre-occupied by hating Kentucky throughout the entire visit. I saw some new shops, visited some old favorites and discovered a Louisville that is Fiercely embracing it's more liberal, more progressive, more artistic side.

Remember how I used to say that Kentucky planted roots in 1984 and just refused to let go? Yeah, well, turns out that there's an underground movement to bring the city into 2007 with everyone else. (Remember, this state elected it's first Democratic state representatives in the recent mid-term election in something like 16 years.)

In short, I enjoyed my "walking around" time as well as the holiday stuff.

One of the coolest things to come out of the whole visit, though was this Christmas gift from my mom and stepdad. It was the only thing I asked them for. Because I knew that it was a tall order.

I couldn't tell them that I had a blog. And that I want to be able to add my own photos to it with the use of my own camera. All I could say was, "I think that I need a digital camera this year."

And this is what they handed me...



Meet the SONY DSC-W&) Cybershot.

I'd love to list all of her amazing features here, but the truth is, I haven't begun to crack them, yet. I've gotten really good at taking pictures indoors in low lighting and at night. Last night I took my first movie of drunken people on New Years Eve screaming at other drunk people. I expect that the coming weeks, as I learn more about it, I'll get better at taking pics with it.

Maybe I'll even come back here and edit this entry to tell you some of it's finer points.

In addition to the camera, I bought a camera pouch for it that I've taken to wearing around my waist, like Batman's Utility Belt. The camera sits in my crotch, like a black, padded, cod-piece. But that allows me easy access (since I like to have my hands in my crotch at all times) and protects the camera when I suddenly sit down or stand up. Also, this way, if I get kicked in the balls, I'll be too worried about the excruciating pain to think about the camera that just got destroyed.

So, I got the camera on December 24th (a day early in case I wanted to take holiday pics. Which I did). Let's see how long I have it before I accidentally break it.

I like having easy access to the camera. I am getting better about seeing something happening and thinking, "I gotta get a picture of this" and my old thought of, "People aren't going to believe this when I blog about it later."

For example, now when I am walking around the city with my mom and we spot Sam Spade's office, over on Wells st. I have photographic proof.



I've been taking random pictures of Chicago and the things that I see around the city. I'm sure that some of these images are going to seem redundant to you. I'm not the first amateur photog to try and capture something cool about the city. But perhaps if you crush on this town like I do, these little pictoral valentines will work for you, like they work for me.

Check them out...


An abstract view of the El tracks. I like how they start up in the upper right corner and expand to nearly fill the bottom of the picture. An experiment with perspective.


To my mind, this is the perfect picture of a Chicago sidestreet. Walk ups in front, sky scrapers in the distance. My city. Chicago.


Wouldn't you love it if this tile mosaic was the entrance to your home? I would. Found this over on Wells street, a block or so South of Archer & Spade's Detective Agency.


Looking straight down off of the Washington, Wells El stop. I guess you could say that this is what pidgeons see.


Taken from a cab, the day before New Years Eve on Michigan Ave. Grill of a bus on the right, pedstrian walking in front of the illuminated windows of the shopping malls on the left.


Same night. Same cab. It is, of course, the Water Tower. At night. I love it.

So, yeah, that's my camera and a selection of pictures from it. If you see me whip it out during rehearsal or at a show, don't be freaked out. In fact, don't look at me. It's better for me, if you don't look at me.

I hate stupid pictures of stupid people looking stupidly into the camera like idiots.

Like this one.



Cheers,
Mr.B